This traveling exhibit showcases over 300 Biblical artifacts.  There are ancient fragments of Scripture from the Dead Sea Scrolls, papyri, early translations in many languages, rare and beautifully illuminated manuscripts, early copies of the Pilgrim’s Geneva Bible and John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Wycliffe’s New Testament, a Coverdale Bible (the first legal printing in English) and so many more.

This fascinating exhibit is very interactive, and it held my children’s attention.  As you move through the exhibit, you get the feeling of moving through time, as each room is decorated to reflect the time period of the manuscripts it contains.

There were many animatronic figures which moved and spoke, including St. Jerome, Queen Anne Boleyn, John Knox, and William Tynedale.  There were also several activities for children, such as writing with quill and ink, using a block print to make a Bible page, and (my kids’ favorite) turning a replica of Gutenberg’s printing press to produce a page from the book of 2 Samuel in Latin.

An audio tour on iPod is included with the children’s tickets (it costs an additional $3.00 for the adult audio).  My children really enjoyed wearing the iPods and listening to the audio tour.  The children’s audio program includes a scavenger hunt which kept them moving forward, listening and looking for answers to questions regarding the exhibits.  There were also many videos throughout the exhibit, creatively done to introduce each room’s theme.  In one room, video technology was used to portray Martin Luther debating with Erasmus and Johann Eck. Videos and animatronics were very lifelike and realistic.

Watch this brief video for a visual introduction to Passages:

Each of us took away favorite memories from the exhibit.  It was rewarding for me to see my oldest son translate a portion of Scripture from an ornate copy of the Latin Vulgate. My favorite parts of the exhibit focused on the Reformation and the translation of the Bible into the language of the common man.

I wish this wasn’t a traveling exhibit, as I would love to take my kids there again and again.  The owner of this exhibit (Steve Green, President of Hobby Lobby) has built his collection to include over 40,000 exhibits, which will become a permanent exhibit at an as-yet undisclosed location.

If you live near Atlanta, you have one more week to see this amazing exhibit.  It will be in Atlanta through June 30th.  A staff member told me that the next location for Passages will be Charlotte, NC, so watch for it if you live in that area.  The website has not yet been updated with the Charlotte information, but more information should be posted there soon.  The exhibit will likely be in Charlotte for a few months, so the next location after that has not yet been announced.

This field trip was encouraging, inspiring, and educational. Thanks to Carrie at Our Full House for this awesome give away!

This year we studied 20th Century history.  Our favorite project of the year was definitely our Grandparent Project.  I had done something similar when I was in 8th grade.  I remember interviewing my grandmother and some of her friends about their memories of significant events which had happened during their lifetime.  It was a very special memory and a fascinating project that I still remember to this day.

We decided to do something similar this year.  Our kids video taped their grandparents answering a series of questions about their childhood, adolescence and adult lives, as well as questions about various events which we studied this year.  Where was Grandma when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot?  What games did she play in the 1950’s?  What technological advancements and inventions came about during Grandpa’s lifetime?  These and other fascinating questions were asked and answered during the interviews.  We learned a lot more about the grandparents, as well as about modern history, and preserved these special interviews on video for future generations.

I know two other families who have done a similar project focusing on war veterans in their community.  Warning: this type of project can become addictive!

Here is a description of the project, as well as a list of interview questions to get you started.

Our younger boys have been longing to dig a trench in the backyard so they can play World War 1. They had visions of digging at least 7 feet deep and lining their trench with boards to make it just like the trenches they saw in our WW 1 books. This weekend they got permission to start digging.

My husband didn’t think they’d get more than about 1′ deep in our Georgia clay before giving up. Never underestimate the will of a boy to carry out his plans! They have been digging all weekend and last night they hit the water table.

Their glorious trench is about 4′ deep now, and filled with water which bubbled up from the ground. It is a muddy mess! But they are so proud. They are bummed about the water, because they had visions of sleeping out there.  I’m glad nature spoiled that plan so I didn’t have to!

It has been hard to find WW 1 replica costumes online. One of the boys took an old plastic army helmet and used cardboard to fashion a brim around it. He covered it all with silver duct tape and he is pleased with the result.

We bought this helmet at our local army store. It had originally been worn by the Italian Civil Air defense in WW 2, but its shape is reminiscent of the WW 1 style helmets, and our youngest son is thrilled with it.

Whenever the boys needed a break from digging their trench, they prowled around the yard fighting imaginary Germans. One of the boys pretends he is a British Tommy, one is an Anzak (Australian New Zealand Army Corp) and the third is an Italian. Occasionally I wandered out onto the deck shouting in German, and tossing imaginary grenades over the rail to keep things lively.

My boys love costumes.  They dress up all the time!  My youngest one practically lives in costumes 7 days a week.

The day after Halloween many shops will mark costumes down as much as 75%! You can often find great deals.  Last year after Halloween I picked up several inexpensive costumes for Christmas gifts.  If you’ll need costumes to go along with something you are studying this year (cowboys, kings and queens, knights….) this is the time to pick them up!

I also bought some Gingerbread “castles” last year…they were meant to be haunted houses or something, but we used them to make medieval gingerbread castles when we were studying the Middle Ages. Just don’t use the orange and black frosting…make your own.

Our day at Yorktown was slightly miserable because it had snowed in the night and, being Georgians, we didn’t have any boots.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed Yorktown so much that our family went back for an extra day at the end of the week so that we could see things we had missed the first day.

Our ten-dollar Homeschool Days ticket from the Jamestown/Yorktown Foundation gave us 5 days of access to both Jamestown Settlement and to Yorktown Victory Center.  The ticket price includes a 2 hour guided tour and a 1 hour grade-level classroom experience.  These are musts, in my opinion, so register early enough to take part in the classroom experiences if you are thinking of going to Homeschool Days in the future.

We started our day with a walking tour around the Victory Center.  There was a re-created 1780s farm, complete with a house, kitchen, tobacco barn, crop fields, and herb and vegetable garden.  We enjoyed looking around the farm, especially warming ourselves by the indoor fires as we spoke to costumed interpreters about life on the farm.

The boys especially enjoyed the re-created Continental Army encampment, where we learned from historical interpreters what it was like to be an American soldier in the Revolutionary War.

The bitter cold, wet conditions gave me a new appreciation of what it must have been like to be a soldier (I thought of those who served at Valley Forge, with no shoes or appropriate clothing or housing).  We were grateful that we could get a hot meal at lunch in a warm building.  At the encampment we saw little tents meant to hold six soldiers, and a pot of beans (which would have been served 3 times a day).

The men that fought the war to gain our independence paid a high cost, with many privations.  At least the nasty weather gave us a deeper appreciation of that.

There is also a beautiful museum with many displays about the Declaration of Independence, the Siege of Yorktown, and the impact of the war on the lives of several ordinary people.

In the afternoon, the children each attended another hands-on classroom experience, similar to what they were able to do at Jamestown Settlement.

The K-2nd grade class examined tools and materials that would have been used on a small Virginia farm to explore what life was like at that time.  My youngest son absolutely loved grinding salt with a mortar and pestle and pretending to write with a quill pen.  Costumes were brought out at the end of the class and he enjoyed dressing up in a colonial boys’ outfit.

The 3rd-5th grade class had lots of fun solving a mystery by analyzing primary source documents and reproduction artifacts.  In the process, they learned about the lives of ordinary 18th century Virginians.

The oldest group attended “Life of a Private”.  My teenager was selected as the “Private” in question, and he got to don all the clothing and gear of a Continental soldier, even holding a real musket.

We really enjoyed our day at Yorktown Victory Center, but I must say that the highlight for us was the end of the day, when we drove over to the Yorktown National Battlefield.  There was only just enough time before dark to walk around the snowy battlefield, but the boys loved every minute of it.  They ran the full length of the field, each one undoubtedly engaged in a battle in his own mind.

We knew that we had to go back, as we had only scratched the surface of what there was to do at the National Battlefield.

On the last day of our trip we had planned to get an early start for our last destination, Chincoteague Island (of Misty fame), but we decided to leave a little later so that we could head back to Yorktown National Battlefield.

There was no charge to walk around outside on the grounds, but the museum inside cost $10 for ages 15 and over.  Again, just as at Historic Jamestowne, I was able to get this fee waived by filling out some paperwork about the educational purpose of our trip.  Here is a link to the requirements for getting a fee waiver.

We explored the museum, which was small but very well done for children.  There was a ship to walk through, a children’s exhibit area, and several of George Washington’s artifacts.  There was also a movie, which we enjoyed.

My favorite part was touring the battlefield.  We purchased a CD in the gift shop for $5 and set out in our car.  The narrator on the CD and several well marked signs told us exactly where to go.  At each stop, there was dramatic narration about what had occurred in that location.

A highlight for us was walking around Redoubts 9 and 10, which were seized from the British by the American and French infantry on October 14, 1781.  We extended our driving tour beyond the main sites and took an alternate route which led us past fields that had housed equipment, a military hospital, the camps of various generals, and more.  It was a very pleasant drive and led us to imagine what it must have been like to be on those very fields at that turning point in history.

We returned to the Visitor’s Center and ran around the battlefield a bit more.  The boys could have spent all day just doing that, but we had to hit the road for Chincoteague Island.

I think the reason this was our favorite place was because of the sense of history we felt, standing on ground that had played such an integral role in our nation’s history.  This was not a re-created village.  This was actually the real deal.  The Yorktown National Battlefield is less than 10 minutes from the Yorktown Victory Center, and should definitely not be missed.

We went to Virginia for Williamsburg homeschool days.  Of course we couldn’t miss Jamestown or Yorktown while we were there.  All three of these historic locations are within 10 to 30 minutes drive of one another.

The Jamestown and Yorktown Foundation held their homeschool days during the same time frame as Colonial Williamsburg, making the timing of this trip even more appealing.  For $10.25 per person, we were able to get entrance to both locations for 5 days.  Included in the price of admission was a 2 hour guided tour in each location and a one hour age-appropriate, hands on classroom experience.  Children under 4 were admitted free.
Dates for fall homeschool days have already been published: September 11-26, 2010.

Our guide was excellent, and it was wonderful to start our trip with an overview of Jamestown, site of the first permanent English settlement in America.  There are three important outdoor areas at Jamestown Settlement:  a re-creation of the Powhatan Indian village, replica 1607 ships and the colonial fort.  Costumed interpreters met us at each location to give us more information about how to burn out a log to make a canoe, how to navigate a ship and what life was like in the fort.

After our tour we thoroughly enjoyed walking through their fantastic museum.

The children each participated in grade-level hands on classroom experiences.  These classroom experiences at Jamestown and Yorktown were one of the trip highlights for us.

Our preschooler did a program called Living with the Indians.   He and his classmates were able to handle and analyze clothing, bone tools and pottery of the Powhatan Indian culture.  He learned how to make rope out of marsh grass and each child was able to touch dozens of replica artifacts.  Our preschooler gained more from these one hour hands on experiences than from almost anything else we did.  He was thoroughly in his element, touching Indian bows and arrowheads, pots, tools and baskets.  The museum educator was excellent with the children, really drawing them out with insightful questions.

I can honestly say that I felt refreshed as a teacher by my participation in these hands on classrooms.  I realized anew how important it is to provide hands on experiences, particularly for young children and kinesthetic learners.  I’ve often made use of hands on projects, but it is easy to let a commitment to them slip through the cracks, since they require so much effort and time.

I also liked the way the educator led the children to make deductions about what they were seeing and hearing.  She asked lots of questions and the children were very engaged in the conversation.  Many times I find myself telling my kids facts, “lecture style”, rather than helping them deduce those facts through thinking about what they’ve already learned.

I came back with a renewed vision and commitment to hands on projects and discussion.

Our middle boys’ class compared and contrasted the Powhatan Indian, English and African cultures that came into contact during the 17th century, while our oldest son learned more about the 1607 voyage to Virginia by exploring period navigational tools.

Some of my children felt Jamestown was the highlight of the trip.

After our time at Jamestown settlement, we went to the Historic Jamestowne national park.  This is a separate area, run by the national park system, and requires a separate admission fee.  If memory serves, it cost $10 for ages 15 and up, but we were able to get the fee waived by filling out some brief paperwork stating that we were homeschoolers and that we were using this trip in conjunction with our homeschool studies.  We were able to fill out this paperwork on site, but you can also do it in advance and bring it with you.  Here are the requirements for homeschool fee waivers.

We loved the Historic Jamestowne National Park.  It was wonderful to stand on the shore and look upon the site of the first landing in 1607.  The children loved the statues of Pocahontas and John Smith, and the park was a lovely place to walk around.  We recently watched a program (through Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips) about archeology in Jamestowne, so it was fun to see the actual dig site and to walk through the museum and see all the artifacts they have unearthed.  We are loving the electronic field trips, by the way, and for a few more weeks you can still purchase them at the substantially discounted price of $49.  You can learn more in my post about the EFT’s, or click on the link above to purchase a subscription through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op.

We just returned from a wonderfully educational week at Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown.  This was one of the best field trips we’ve ever taken, and I hope you’ll consider going if it is ever within the realm of possibility.  It was well worth the 10+ hour drive, and added a great deal to our studies this year.

Colonial Williamsburg holds their Homeschool Days twice a year, in spring and fall.  Jamestown and Yorktown cooperated with them by holding their homeschool days at the same time.  This meant we could get access to special programming for homeschoolers, as well as heavily discounted admission, at all three places.

I’ve heard there is more to do at CW in the fall, but that the crowds during that time are a force to be reckoned with.  Granted, there was a bit less going on during spring homeschool days, and the weather was pretty cold.  But the crowds were low, we easily got in to everything we wanted to do, and the rates on condos simply could not be beat.  I shared a 4 bedroom condo (designed to sleep 12) with two other homeschooling friends and our 9 children, and we were able to split the cost of $275 total for 5 nights between the three of us.  Eating breakfast and dinner at the condo and packing lunches kept food costs economical, too.

There was so much to see and do that I’ll publish separate posts about each location.  I want to make sure you get all the links and information you need, should you decide to take this trip yourself.  This post will cover Williamsburg, the next one will be Jamestown, then Yorktown, and finally Chincoteague Island, VA, home of the wild ponies and “Misty” fame.

Currently, this link for homeschool days at CW only has information about the spring program, which is already over.  They should update this link with information for future dates, however, so you may want to bookmark it.

We spent two days at Colonial Williamsburg.  It would have been wonderful to have a third day, but we were able to do much of what we wanted to, especially since the crowds were light.  Spring homeschool days at CW are focused on the trades, whereas the fall homeschool days are more about politics and government.

Visiting the shops was a highlight (we especially liked the printer, the silversmith, the wig maker, and the gunsmith).  The children had lots of questions to ask the interpreters, and they learned so much about a variety of trades.

The younger boys had the opportunity to drill with a soldier, learning how to load and hold a musket, stand in formation, and fire.  Our oldest enjoyed listening to a special Q and A session with General Washington.

Sitting in the courtroom and observing some colonial trials taught us a lot about the laws at that time, and was a highlight for everyone.

The boys loved the baker, too, especially their pretzel rolls and gingerbread.  They also sold a refillable mug for $11, good for unlimited refills for one calendar year.  We bought one mug early on the first day, and got our money’s worth keeping it full of hot chocolate, cider, coffee and tea each day we were there.  Usually our kids drink water whenever we go out, so this was definitely a highlight for them, even though we all had to share one mug…the bottomless hot chocolate will ne’er be forgotten.

One afternoon we stopped by The Cheese Shop for bread and some fresh cheese.  Everyone had recommended this place and it did not disappoint.  We managed to get a bag of bread ends, which we were told we had to try.  At just $1 per bag, there were plenty of french bread ends for the 5 of us to snack on.

There were a few walking tours available for homeschoolers, but you had to sign up in advance for these.  By the time we registered, two weeks before homeschool days, the extra tours were all booked.  There would have also been an extra $5 per person fee for these tours.  In this regard, Jamestown and Yorktown were both more homeschool friendly, with plenty of space on their walking tours as well as excellent hands-on, grade-appropriate classroom experiences at both places, all included in the cost of admission.

The tickets for Colonial Williamsburg homeschool days cost $8 per person for a 2 day pass or $11 per person for a 5 day pass.  Children 5 and under were admitted free.  This was a huge savings over their regular price: a two-day winter pass regularly sells for $38 for adults and $19 for youth.  It was also very enjoyable to meet other homeschoolers from around the country while riding on the bus and participating in the programs.

We are currently studying colonial times in our homeschool.  The timing of this trip couldn’t have been better for us.  The boys had read enough that they could really appreciate what we were seeing and doing.  Now that we are home, they are making lots of connections in our current readings.  For example, we just read D’aulaire’s book about Benjamin Franklin and the younger boys all remembered seeing the printing press, talking to the printer, and touching the type.  When we read about Franklin’s printing career, they noticed things in the illustrations which they had seen in the printer’s shop.

I got this idea from someone else’s blog, but unfortunately I can’t remember where I saw it!  We had lots of fun with this one.

First, we printed out castle templates so that the kids could assemble their own castle.  I printed out the black and white ones, and the kids colored them creatively.  This was a simple activity, that required a few printouts, some colored pencils, cardboard (we used old cereal boxes), toilet paper tubes and glue.  The castles did not take long to assemble…maybe an hour to make 3 castles (from start to finish, with most of the time spent coloring.)

Next, the kids placed their castles on a large sheet of butcher paper.  I wish I had had poster board on hand, but I didn’t….so the paper had to do.

I read a book about castles to them, pausing at the end of each page so that they could decide if they wanted to “add” anything from the reading to their own castle.  I had to do the writing for the youngest ones.  They made little drawings on the paper to indicate buildings, weapons, and supplies, and then whispered to me what each drawing meant.

I helped them to label their drawings, and then read the next page.  We went back and forth like this, pausing after each page, so they could decide what their castle would need to withstand a siege.

After we were done, I used a printout from this Castle Siege game which prompted them to tell what people would be present in their castle.  Those names were written down (king, blacksmith, peasants, etc.).  They had one last opportunity to mention any supplies, animals, food items, people, buildings, etc. that they needed before the game began.  Once the game started, no one could add anything to their castle.

The Castle Siege game has a bunch of cards that you print and cut out.  Each player draws a card and adds or subtracts points from their total score, based on how well they outfitted their castle.  For example, they add two points if they remembered to include a dungeon, and subtract two points if they forgot.  Once they’ve gone through all the cards, the game ends and the player with the highest point total wins.

I wanted a chance to play, too, but it didn’t seem very fair, because I knew exactly what everyone else had put in their castle, and what the cards called for.  We agreed that I would use our Fairy Tale Castle puzzle, receiving or losing points for whatever the puzzle creators remembered to put into the puzzle.  Let’s just say that the Fairy Tale Castle wasn’t designed very well for a siege, but it was fun anyway.

This puzzle, by the way, is a remnant from the days when I believed that all boys should have gender-inclusive toys.  No one plays with it in this house now-a-days.  For more on that, please read my post about Boys and Weapons!

This game was fun, and didn’t take very long to play.  The longest part of this entire exercise was reading about the castle and getting the boys to label it.  But they absolutely loved doing that part, and they remembered so much more than if we had only read it.  Thinking about what they would need, labeling and listing everything, and then finding out through the game what was missing was very instructive to them, and they won’t soon forget this material.

I’m so happy we took the time to do this!  It was well worth it.

My children really enjoy it when I can find a great game online to supplement our history studies. Here are a few we like:

We learned how to play Senet when we studied Ancient Egypt. This online version looks somewhat realistic, so you may want to check it out, especially if you are thinking of making your own Senet game at home.  But it is a little confusing, so for online play, I prefer this version from the BBC, which teaches the rules of this ancient board game and lets you play against the computer.  You will need Shockwave to play the BBC version.

Egyptian Tomb is more involved than the previous game. Kids get clues to solve a mystery by answering questions, doing simple map work, deciphering hieroglyphs and other exercises. There is some teaching about Egyptian gods and beliefs on this site. This site requires some reading ability. It’s not too hard as the answers to most questions are provided somewhere on the site. It’s a fun way to reinforce what you may already be learning about Ancient Egypt.

Not exactly a game, but this Egyptian Calculator is interesting…

Check out BBC’s kids game called Pyramid Challenge to see if you’ve got what it takes to be a pyramid builder.

They haven’t played it yet, but I know my boys will enjoy this embalming game, which teaches about how mummies were made.  It’s kind of gross, but pretty educational, and they aren’t squeamish types…

My boys absolutely LOVE Civilization and other “builder” games.  Nile online is a similar concept, free to play, and requires no downloads (only registration).  They haven’t played it yet, but I’ll post an update here once they have a chance to rate it.

I found a few of the Egyptian games in this post through the site Ancient Egyptian Games.  They have so many!  Hoping to get some good apps for my iPod through them, too.

Last year when we studied the Mayans we played this online Mayan Ball game. It was also neat to watch this brief video re-enactment of a Mayan Ball game.

Jacobites the 1745 Rebellion begins with a very brief video, and poses the question, “Could you have done a better job if you were the leader of the Jacobites?” As kids read information and learn more about the people involved they are asked to make decisions. Some responses prompt video clips of battle re-enactments. Definitely click the “funky” button to view this in flash. It’s much more interactive than the simple site.

Scottish Wars of Independence is an online board game. Kids spin and move around the board. Every square they land on opens up a fact file about this time period. Kids choose the 6 events they feel to be the most important and add them to a list. At the end of the game they find out whether they chose wisely or not.

Vikings in Scotland gives kids opportunities to answer questions to complete game tasks in “Build a longship” and “Build a longhouse”. Some answers are provided on video clips (at least in the Flash site) for kids to watch after they answer. The more kids know, the faster their boat/longhouse is built. There is also another game on the site, where kids try and sail their longboat around a map, accomplishing various tasks along the way.

We really enjoy the viking board game Hnefetafl. This site provides English rules partway down the page, or click here to read the rules I wrote out (which may be easier to understand!) To play this game online, click on one of the boards displayed. Each one yields a slightly different variation of the game. Don’t forget to click English on the board game page or you’ll be playing in Danish.

BBC Schools has lots of games, including some games for Modern Times.

I like Scotland During the Second World War. My 2nd grader has played this and he enjoyed it. Kids pretend to be a spy, gathering information to help them progress through the game.

My kids have not played their WW1 game Trench Warfare yet, but I suspect they will like it. It does require quite a lot of reading, but you are able to choose which weapons you want to fight with and then see a cartoon video of the chosen weapon in action. Then you are briefed as to how well you did and why. This game doesn’t teach much, other than the pros and cons of various battle tactics in WW1, but it will probably be a hit with boys.

I’ve heard great things about the BBC’s Dance Mat Typing but my kids have not used this yet, either. Nevertheless, I wanted to try it out. And it’s great! Seeing is believing. We will definitely be using this game.

For more great online games, check out the list of interactive history games offered for kids by the BBC.